Motor racing: Former U.N. climate chief to advise Formula E

Motor racing: Former U.N. climate chief to advise Formula E

Former United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres speaks during a debate in the United Nations General Assembly between candidates vying to be the next U.N. Secretary General at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., July 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/Files

LONDON (Reuters) - Former U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres is to join retired four-times Formula One world champion Alain Prost in leading Formula E's Global Advisory Board, the electric motor racing series announced on Monday.

The board is made up of leading names from various sectors to advise on topics such as sustainability, the media and business.

Costa Rican diplomat Figueres was executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and helped broker the 2015 Paris accord signed by nearly 200 countries.

"In order to meet the objectives set out by the Paris agreement and prevent global temperatures spiralling out of control, we must have a need for speed and react quickly," she said in a Formula E statement.

"This unique forum at Formula E will allow us to bring great minds together with the same common goal, speeding-up the transition and use of electric vehicles in everyday life."

Formula E, a city-based series sanctioned by the International Automobile Federation (FIA), starts its fourth season in Hong Kong on Dec. 2.